USS Mississippi (CGN-40), a Virginia-class nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser, was the fourth ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the 20th state admitted to the Union. Her keel was laid down by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company at Newport News, Virginia, on 22 February 1975. She was launched on 31 July 1976. The ship was commissioned on 5 August 1978 by Jimmy Carter, then serving as the 39th president of the United States. Early deployment included escorting the carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68). She also was deployed in 1989 as a response to the capture and subsequent murder of U.S. Marine Corps Colonel William R. Higgins by terrorists.
USS Mississippi on 21 January 1991
Mississippi is launched from Newport News in July 1976
Mississippi working up in the Atlantic in 1978, shortly after her commissioning
Mississippi returns to Norfolk in November 1989 at the end of a six-month cruise to the Mediterranean
The Virginia class were four nuclear-powered, guided-missile cruisers that served in the United States Navy until the mid-to-late 1990s. The double-ended cruisers were commissioned between 1976 and 1980. They were the final class of nuclear-powered cruisers completed and the last ships ordered as Destroyer Leaders under the pre-1975 classification system.
USS Virginia
Virginia underway off the coast of Cape Henry, Virginia (VA)
Artist's impression of CGN-42, the planned AEGIS version of the Virginia-class
A shock trial of Arkansas in 1982
